* Iemma Hands Prisoners APEC Holiday
* Commuters Fed Up As Bus Drivers Dress Up For Another Day Of Play
* Cell Bars Cut – Security For Remand Terror Suspects Deficient
* Iemma Con Job On Sydney Bus Commuters
* Teaching Hospital Closed Down As Labor's Health System Threatens Patient Safety
Iemma Hands Prisoners APEC Holiday
ReplyDeleteThe decision to grant an APEC holiday for criminals on periodic detention is further evidence of the Labor Government's incompetent handling of the state's justice system and endangers the integrity of justice in NSW, Shadow Attorney General Greg Smith SC said today.
“The State Government has had two and a half years to plan for this conference. It is a complete joke that their best plan to accommodate arrests is to give a holiday for prisoners on periodic detention,” Mr Smith said.
“The people of NSW expect that the State Government will uphold and enforce the sentences handed down by the courts, not throw them out the window as a cost-cutting measure,” he said.
“Of course there is a need to ensure order during the APEC summit and provide room for detention of individuals during this time, but it does not have to come at the expense of the ongoing operation of justice.
“It is essential that priority in our prisons is given to those who are convicted of crimes and not for those held on remand.
“The Labor Government has had enough time to come up with alternative arrangements and their failure to plan effectively reflects their casual approach to justice and harms the integrity of sentencing powers.
“When the Iemma Government brought in the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Bill this issue was never mentioned, debated or discussed.
“The Iemma Government needs to explain whether it is even in the power of the NSW Department of Corrective Services Commissioner to hand out these get-out-of-gaol free cards.
“Victims of crime would rightly feel betrayed by the Labor Government’s undermining of sentencing procedures,” Mr Smith said.
Commuters Fed Up As Bus Drivers Dress Up For Another Day Of Play
ReplyDeleteShadow Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian, said today that John Watkins must get on with the job of putting bus drivers back behind the wheel.
“Reports today that bus drivers are dressing in costume to avoid getting behind the wheel of a bus demonstrates John Watkins’ inability to manage critical issues with the transport network,” Ms Berejiklian said.
“For two consecutive days this week we have seen up to 70 drivers call in sick from the Ryde depot suffering bus-flu, a contagious disease that looks remarkably like an industrial strike,” she said.
“It’s about time that Mr Watkins was upfront with the public and addressed the issues within the STA that he is clearly unable to resolve.
“Mr Watkins must sit down with the concerned parties and resolve the ongoing dispute.
“It is not good enough that Mr Watkins has left the acting Chief Executive of STA to take the blame for the matter – given that he has only be in the job for a few days.
“Mr Watkins must give the public an assurance to commuters that this type of inappropriate activity will not continue.
“There is no doubt we have an acute shortage of bus drivers that has been highlighted by this dispute.
“The dispute demonstrates that John Watkins runs the public transport network through crisis management. He fails to solve issues before they have a disastrous impact on commuters.”
“It is concerning that over a 12 month period that John Watkins has only been able to recruit an additional 14 drivers to the STA,” Ms Berejiklian said.
Cell Bars Cut – Security For Remand Terror Suspects Deficient
ReplyDeleteThere are serious concerns that inadequate security is in place for remand prisoners being held on terrorist charges following an escape attempt at Lithgow gaol, the Shadow Minister for Justice Greg Smith SC said today.
“It seems a hacksaw blade is still missing. The hacksaw blade was used by an inmate at the maximum security Lithgow Gaol to cut both ends of a bar in the roof of a cage in an exercise yard housing prisoners charged with terrorist offences," Mr Smith said.
“Proper security precautions would have detected the blade being brought into the prison and being used in the exercise yard. It takes a long time to cut one end of a steel bar and the prisoner(s) involved would have to be standing on something or otherwise propped up to reach the roof of the cage,” he said.
“Somehow a hacksaw blade has been secreted into the exercise yard, then used to cut both ends of a steel bar, presumably in daylight hours, then hidden again. If this is the product of the tightest prison security in Australia, then what is in store for us in the future under the Iemma Labor Government’s security precautions?
“Regular observations of prisoners in the exercise yard would detect that a prisoner was behaving suspiciously. Wasn’t there also camera surveillance of these prisoners? Why wasn’t the prisoner or prisoners caught in the act?
“Assurances that prisoners could not have escaped from Lithgow Gaol are unconvincing, as are claims made by the Iemma Government that security there and at Goulburn is the tightest in Australia.
“While the Prison officer who discovered the sawn bars deserves congratulations, is the delay in discovery another case of insufficient staffing of a vital facility?
“In view of this extraordinary lapse in security in a so called maximum security gaol, the NSW public will question the Iemma Government’s commitment to security against terrorism," Mr Smith said.
Iemma Con Job On Sydney Bus Commuters
ReplyDeleteActing Shadow Minister for Transport Brad Hazzard said the Iemma Labor Government could no longer con Sydney's bus commuters into believing 67 drivers off work today didn't equal a strike.
"The Iemma Labor Government is more concerned with managing the political spin rather than getting drivers back to work and commuters back on buses," Mr Hazzard said.
"Yesterday's chaotic 'non-strike' by 57 drivers has turned into today's nightmare of 67 drivers missing in action," he said.
"Passengers know 67 drivers calling in sick with flu from the one depot is simply unbelievable.
"Even now, the Iemma Government and the union are continuing the con with both saying 67 drivers off doesn't equal a strike.
"The public are being treated like fools, while commuters suffer disrupted services and motorists endure increased traffic congestion.
"The Iemma Government has known for months that issues over split rostering, allowances and wages were waiting to erupt.
"Premier Iemma and Transport Minister Watkins should have sorted this problem out long before commuters were left stranded on the side of Sydney roads.
"Today's political 'quick fix' to the 'non-strike' is to call in drivers from depots across Sydney, spreading the pain to bus commuters all over the city.
"Commuters know this will simply increase the already too frequent cancellations across all State Transit bus depots.
"Labor's spin machine has to stop, and the issues have to be resolved or the union should be bought before the Industrial Commission to head off further disasters for Sydney commuters.
"Morris Iemma and John Watkins must sit down with bus drivers to ensure the public is not caught in the middle of their feud," Mr Hazzard said.
Teaching Hospital Closed Down As Labor's Health System Threatens Patient Safety
ReplyDelete"Trainees are currently operating in a fashion which compromises patient safety, through excessive workload demands, limited consultant supervision, and a lack of comprehensive clinical support services" (p5) Basic Physician Training Site Accreditation Visit - Shellharbour Hospital Report
Shadow Minister for Health Jillian Skinner today condemned the Iemma Labor Government and Reba Meagher for allowing Shellharbour Hospital to be stripped of it's status as a teaching hospital because of 'extreme patient loads', resulting in compromised patient safety.
“Patients are being put at risk because Morris Iemma and Reba Meagher have run hospital services and staff into the ground,” Mrs Skinner said.
“One of the most alarming consequences of staff shortages has been the practice of trainees or overseas trained doctors working without the level of supervision and monitoring required as part of their employment,” she said.
“Examples of this were raised during the coronial inquiry into the death of teenager Vanessa Anderson at Royal North Shore Hospital and the forced review of thousands of pathology tests done in Wollongong and Tamworth by a doctor who was supposed to be supervised.
“How many more doctors are working without proper supervision?
“Morris Iemma and Reba Meagher must come clean and detail what other teaching hospitals are operating under similar conditions and also have their teaching status at risk of being stripped.”
A leaked report from the Royal Australian College of Physicians written after a visit on 31 May found:
Shellharbour Hospital is not an appropriate Basic Physician Training site and its accreditation should be withdrawn. (p5);
There are no full time senior medical staff at the hospital. (p2);
Extreme patient loads are common (p2);
There is no clear Health Service level plan for the further development of the Shellharbour Hospital (p3);
Trainees are being asked to carry unreasonable clinical responsibilities, with limited local consultant back up (p5), and;
One trainee commented without prompting, that 'I don't think it's safe'. (p5).
“By mismanaging the training of medical staff, the Iemma Government has put patients at risk," Mrs Skinner said.
“How on earth can trainee medical staff be taught properly in a hospital that has no full time senior medical staff?
“This report has been covered up for more than a month by Reba Meagher, with the local community only finding out their hospital had been downgraded in an anonymous letter to their local newspaper.
“The Labor Governments efforts to hide this report demonstrates neither Morris Iemma nor Reba Meagher are serious about being open and transparent when it comes to the health system.
“The public has a right to know if there are serious problems with medical training in any hospital.
“The Iemma Government’s belated efforts to rectify the problems are too little too late.
“These trainee medical officers now know how overworked existing staff are – hardly an incentive to continue working in the NSW health system.
“If the Iemma Government can't manage to train new medical staff properly, how do they expect to fix the chronic staff shortages affecting hospitals across NSW?
“Reba Meagher is now trying to wash her hands of this affair by hanging the Area Health Service out to dry, directing inquiries to local staff.
“Morris Iemma and Reba Meagher must immediately explain if there are any other teaching hospitals where trainees are not being given adequate supervision and where patient safety is being put at risk,” Mrs Skinner said.